MGM gets Channing Tatum "Island" movie from Zoe Kravitz

HBOMAX sets new DC Universe show with JJ Abrams / F9 hits new pandemic record / CLUBHOUSE - NHL set partnership

Sean McNulty

Jun 28, 2021

Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on MONDAY June 28, 2021.

Where according to Maverick’s watch, it’ll be July this week. 2021 half over 🤯.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

MGM picks up Zoe Kravitz-directed “Pussy Island” project starring Channing Tatum

Naomi Ackie also cast in lead role as an LA cocktail waitress who works her way into an invitation to the titular hedonistic island owned by a tech mogul (Tatum), and discovers some dark secrets… turns out - cash bar only.

Ackie was co-lead of the most recent season of “Master of None”, and is also playing Whitney Houston in the upcoming SONY biopic “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”. /Variety

WB shifts Fall release dates

“Dune” now coming out 3 weeks later on Oct 22 (2 weeks after James Bond). Still also going to HBOMAX. Or at least still no official word to the contrary.

“Sopranos” prequel “The Many Saints of Newark” now drops on Oct 1, and Clint Eastwood movie “Cry Macho” moves up to Sept 17. /Variety

BOX OFFICE

“F9” : $70 Million (now at $405 Million globally)
- For reference: F8 did $1.2 Billion, “Hobbs & Shaw” did $760 Million globally
- Still yet to open in much of Europe and Japan. Opened #1 in UK this weekend at $8.3 Million
“A Quiet Place 2” : $6.2 Million ($136 Million US, $248 Million Global)
- Original ended up with $348 Million globally
“The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” : $4.9 Million, almost 60% drop from opening weekend ($26 Million US)
“Peter Rabbit” : $4.8 Million ($29 Million US, $108 Million Global)
“Cruella” : $3.7 Million ($71 Million US, $184 Million Global)

“In The Heights” dropped to 7th place at $2.2 Million, down another 47% and was in 1100 fewer US theaters this weekend. US total at $24 Million.

THEATERS UPDATE: 80% of US theaters now open. Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington still have capacity restrictions.

In Canada - Ontario Province (home of Toronto & Ottowa) theaters still closed, 40% of Canada’s total. /Deadline

ALSO IN MOVIES

DISNEY sets writer for director Patty Jenkins’s “Star Wars” movie “Rogue Squadron” - Matthew Robinson (wrote the Ricky Gervais movie “The Invention of Lying”, upcoming “Little Shop of Horrors” remake). Movie will shoot sometime next year. /THR
“Bridgerton” star Phoebe Dynevor sets first movie leading-role at SONY. A thriller called “I Heart Murder”, to be directed by “Ingrid Goes West” director Matt Spicer. /Deadline
"Fletch” reboot starring Jon Hamm & directed by Greg Mottola (“Superbad”) called “Confess, Fletch” will begin shooting this week. Marcia Gay Harden, Kyle MacLachlan and Roy Wood Jr. join the cast of the MIRAMAX movie. /Deadline

📺 THE TV SET

Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer doing parody Christmas movie “A Clüsterfünke Christmas” at VIACOM

Will parody the genre made famous by HALLMARK and release end of this year… somewhere in the VIACOM universe (I got $10 on PAR+). /Deadline

HBOMAX adapting “Madame X(anadu)” DC Comic from the Justice League Dark universe into a series

Exec produced by JJ Abrams. Angela Robinson (writer on“True Blood”, “The L Word”) is adapting. /Variety

PARAMOUNT+ “Halo” series loses 2nd showrunner

The show based on the hit video game is about to wrap production on Season 1 in a couple weeks… but the show’s 2nd showrunner Steven Kane will not be returning if it gets a 2nd season. He was brought on to oversee the long production in Budapest after the initial showrunner Kyle Killen bowed out of going to Europe for the shoot.

Show was developed and originally put into production as a SHOWTIME series. /Variety

ALSO IN TV

HBO orders Nathan Fielder comedy series, “The Rehearsal”. Nathan will give people the chance to rehearse for events in their own lives… but not specified if it’s scripted or not. No timeline or episode order indicated. /THR
NBC cancels “Good Girls” after 4 seasons. NETFLIX not interested in upping their share of the budget to make a Season 5 work. /Deadline
NETFLIX orders sorta-spinoff of their “Lenox Hill” hospital docu-reality show from the start of the pandemic, called “Emergency NYC”. It’ll center on real stories from ER’s around the city. /Variety
Jimmy Kimmel taking the Summer off again… one week after coming back with a live audience. He’ll be back after Labor Day. Guest hosts will begin on July 6th including Anthony Anderson, Arsenio Hall, Sarah Silverman, Anthony Mackie and Niall Horan. /ABC
“The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” co-showrunner Nedaa Sweiss sets multi-year overall deal at UNIVERSAL TV to develop scripted projects in addition to doing her Fallon job. She developed scripted shows for CBS and ABC last year. /Variety
CBS’s Head of Comedy Development, Julie Pernworth leaving after 21 years. No next destination indicated. /Deadline

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

Hmm. I’ll take the Canadiens in 6. via Giphy

CLUBHOUSE sets NHL partnership for the Stanley Cup Finals

Established an NHL Club room (link here) where fans can listen / ask questions of Canadiens & Lightning players on some TBD virtual media days. /THR

ALSO : The Stanley Cup playoffs begin tonight with Game 1 at 8p on NBCSN or PEACOCK.

AND: Former EDMONTON OILERS & NY RANGERS great Mark Messier is joining ESPN & ABC’s NHL coverage in the Fall. /USA Today

ALSO IN MEDIA

ALTICE / “Optimum” dramatically cutting upload speeds for new users after July 12, as much as 85%. /Ars Technica
AMAZON buys podcast hosting and ad monetization platform ART 19. Essentially… equivalent of SPOTIFY’s purchase of ANCHOR. So. Expect to hear a lot more ads about something called ART 19 if you listen to podcasts. /The Verge

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

VIMEO +8% but… that was about it, pretty quiet Friday.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

WIMBLEDON begins.. Without Nadal or Osaka. All matches airing on ESPN channels.

ALSO: Serena will not play at The OLYMPICS next month. Declined to give specific rationale.

GenX programming alert - “The Chris Rock Show” Seasons 1 & 2 are now streaming here on HBOMAX. 🙌

ALSO: Ed Sheeran is sitting in on “The Late Late Show with James Corden” all week. Given Corden’s new group banter format, this should be fun!

If you were sent this newsletter or… just kinda found it:

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

It was a busy week in trailers… catching up on a few I didn’t have room for last week:

APPLE TV+ “Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson” trailer - 6 part docuseries about how music and songs are really put together, and the search for new sounds with one of the premiere producers & musicians in the game.

Looks cool - and some great interviews. And I totally got my free year of APPLE TV+ just in time. Premieres Fri July 30.

APPLE TV+ “Schmigadoon” series trailer. Keegan-Michael Key & Cecily Strong as a couple who get stuck in a land of Musicals, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (“Men in Black”). Premieres Fri July 16.

IMDBTV “Luke Bryan: My Dirt Road Diary” series trailer. 5-part docuseries about how Luke became Luke. And hopefully about how the hell he fits into those jeans. All 5 episodes drop on Fri Aug 6 on AMAZON’s free streaming service.

NETFLIX “Sky Rojo” Season 2 trailer. Spanish series from the creators of “Money Heist” about 3 exotic dancers and a very rough group of… not-Rotary club members who seem to want them dead. Premieres Fri July 23.

🕵️‍♂️ THE WEEK AHEAD

TUE - HBOMAX goes Global! ish. Launches in 39 LATAM & CARRIBBEAN countries today

WED - A24 releases stripper road trip movie based on a TWITTER thread, “Zola”

THU - Soderbergh’s latest “No Sudden Move” launches on HBOMAX

FRI - AMAZON PRIME tries to take over the July 4th weekend movie crown… though we’ll have no idea if that actually happens. Chris Pratt sci-fi future war movie “The Tomorrow War” hits the streaming service.

SAT - Eat hot dogs. Drink a beer. Repeat.